whooping cough (pertusis)-can it cause lung damage and asthma?

[Trudi2258]

I had whooping cough 3 years ago and since then have never stopped coughing.  I have a deep dry hacking cough but more times than not its a productive cough with a lot of thick white secretions.  At times the mucous makes me feel like I am drowning-I just cant seem to get the mucous to totally go away.  My Pulmonologist diagnosised me first with post infectious cough and then cough varient asthma.  My asthma is not at all controlled despite numerous nebulizers, steroids treatments which make me profusely sweat, unable to sleep and essentially a crazy person-(so I refuse to take that daily), inhalers and now allergy shots weekly.  Is it possible that the pertusis left me with scars or other permanent lung damage?  My voice is constantly horse/raspy.  I have seen GI specilaists and had an endosocopy which showed mild reflux disease and take nexium, ENT doctors did complete sinus workup and I have no sinus problems.  I can feel the asthma attacks coming on most of the time and can lessen the symtpoms somewhat with nebulizer, rescue inhaler and cough medicine.  But there are times when I started violently coughing for no apparent reason.  Air travel worsens my symptoms which is difficult since I have to travel frequently for my job.  I have had pulmonary function tests that indicate asthma, CT Scans essentially are normal except for a 4cm lesion that has not changed.  

Does anyone know of adults who were infected with whooping cough that resulted in chronic/ hard to control asthma or other related respiratory problems and sudden onset of significant allergies?  I try like heck to make the best of it, I continue to work, I carry a portable nebulizer with me every where I go (which at times freaks out the TSA security guards in airports because they dont know what it is)  I frequently just start coughing uncontrolably which is very distressful and frightening because I then wonder...am I going to be able to control this attack this time?...which of course then makes matters and breathing  worse not to mention it is embarrasing to have this happen in public places.  
This coughing is really affecting my quality of life!!  I am so frustrated, discouraged and at a loss as to what I can do or try to make this go away or at least be under control?  Does anyone know if there is a hospital or group of doctors that specialize in chronic coughs?  I live in the Northeast section of the USA but at this point will travel anywhere to see any specialist that may have an answer.  I've read some posts discussing brittle asthma.  Do my symptoms sound similar?
HELP please!  

[lisawhoop]

I am so excited that I found this site!  I was diagnosed with WC this September and have not recovered as of yet.  My cough was so severe that I ended up breaking two ribs - each on a separate coughing spell within 2 weeks.  2 months into the gagging, not being able to breathe, and trying not to  break another rib - I was sent to a ENT specialist due to not being able to talk at all.  I lost my voice at the end of August when I believe that I first contracted WC.  It was discovered that I had developed vocal nodes from the coughing.  
I am an elementary music teacher in a building with all kindergarteners and first graders.  I started the year but was only able to teach for the first 2 days.  I was only able to start the year because I had been misdiagnosed(which am sure is common) as having a viral cough.  Because I couldn't talk or sing, and the coughing was very disruptive - I ended up calling the doctor and was then tested positively for Pertussis.  I have been out of work since then.  

I have had some PT for mobility of my upper body, shoulder, & arm of the side where I had the broken ribs.  I also am seeing a vocal therapist who is working with me to retrain me on use of breath support, and basically how to talk again.

From this past four months of constant coughing along with my other complications, I haven't been able to do much of anything.  I have had to rest almost constantly and have no stamina for simple things(ex. washing dishes, laundry, getting groceries), let alone working.  

I am frustrated because my family doctor doesn't seem to think that my symptoms are really legitimate.  In fact, he was ready to send me back to work in 2 weeks after I broke my ribs!  That would have put me back to work at the beginning of October.  I am not even close to ready to be on my feet even part time now - let alone 3 months ago!  I don't feel like he knows enough about the illness to be able to direct me to the next path.  

At the end of December(right before winter break), I went back to work part time(half days) and was only able to work for 2 days and then was back off of work again.  During my 2 days at work, my cough became much worse by the evening of the 2nd day.  I was back to coughing with gagging, tears, & losing my breath.  That continued for close to a week before the cough started to subside a bit.  I still am worse than I was before going back for those 2 days.  My voice still gets raspy.  Even with using a body mic in my classroom for those 2 short half days, I lost my voice completely by the end of the 2nd morning.  I also apparently don't have much of an immune system at this point.  By the end of the 2nd morning, I was sneezing & coughing, as well as having a sore throat.  By the next day, the entire inside of my mouth hurt, along with not being able to swallow.  I started coughing up green mucus.  

My doctor put me on an antibiotic but didn't seem phased by how quickly I got sick.  I have been looking online for months now to see if there are support groups for WC out there.  I have really just been looking for ANYTHING related to this illness which gives advice on any remedies to help - other than rest.  Up until today, I hadn't considered looking up pulmonology sites.  All I could basically find were sites which only told what WC is and most were related only to children.  

One of the things that I am hoping to discover is if there is any types of regimented plans that are used to assist in adults and their recovery.  I am at a loss as to what to do at this point.  I keep having to report to my district as to when I expect to return and all I get from my doctor is whenever you decide you are ready - I'll support it.  I need a plan as to how to be able to get ready!!!  

I try to do things around the house and stay active for an hour or two at a time.  then I rest.  After an hour or two of resting, I get back up and do simple tasks again.  For awhile I had even started trying to walk around the perimeter of my house 2 - 3 times a day - just to start a small exercise step.  At this point, I can not go without at least one solid one and a half to two hour nap in my day.  Also, if I push myself too far, I start a coughing fit.  Sometimes I don't know if what I did is too much until several days after.  For instance, if I do well on a day and I still feel strong enough, then I do the same type of pattern the next day.  Usually by the third day, my coughing is harsh enough that I feel a backslide so I end up needing to do nothing the next day.  

I want to ask my doctor for a referral to a specialist.  Someone who might actually have dealt with situations similar to mine - even if it might not be pertussis but other illnesses with persistent coughing.  Do you have any thoughts as to what type of specialist might be the best to be asking for a referral to?  A pulmonologist?  An Immune Diseases Specialist?  

My doctor's latest recommendation was for me to work mornings, only on Mon., wed., & fridays but my principal won't agree.  Her reasoning is sound and I agree with it.  She feels that this type of set up is not consistent for the students.  My district has been very supportive.  I am very thankful for that!  Since that didn't work, it was recommended that I stay out for 3 more weeks and then reassess.  If I am not doing anything which is any different, how will I be able to reassess that I am ready to go back in to the classroom again???  

Anyone have suggestions on foods/diets/vitamins/other things that might try to help boost my immune system?  

I feel like I am grasping at straws here and just want a way to get well.  Reading these posts at least makes me feel somewhat better.  I at least don't feel like I am going crazy, knowing that others are struggling in similar ways.  What a crazy, sometimes scary, and frustrating illness!

[1Anonymous1]

if one doctor won't take you seriously for WC, I would drop that doctor and find another one who listens. Keep trying other doctors until someone listens and takes you seriously. Just because whooping cough is supposed to be wiped out doesn't mean it is and not taking people seriously will cost them their lives. When people die off from WC, Have your family or someone close to you who knows what's going on require an autopsy on your upper respiratory system. specify the person who died had whooping cough when they died but doctors didn't take them seriously. When whooping cough comes back positive, doctors will have to take people seriously, more families can start lawsuits over something like this

[Ark4tog]

Wow, you sound like me.  I had whooping cough in 2013, it started the end of January and I finally felt closer to normal by the end of May. I was diagnosed with asthma when I was 10. I'm sure that is part of the reason I got WC. Due to the asthma, I often get more sick than others when I get a cold.  So we didn't confirm WC until mid Febryary and by then the damage was done. Just had to treat the symptoms and ride it out. My symptoms were: Very severe cough, incontinence due to severe cough, feeling like I was choking on mucus or a dry throat, not able to sleep for more than 2 hours at a time for almost a month, passing out from coughing, gagging from the cough, cracked rib. Not to mention the severe deconditioning of my body which has taken almost 2.5 years to regain. The thing that helped the most while I was sick was using straight lidocaine in my nebulizer. My doctor said she had a patient with throat cancer and it helped him.  
After the WC I have a lingering intermittent cough, my voice is extremely sensitive to humidity, talking, etc.  my asthma has been worsening and I'm now to the point that I can't leave my house without wearing a mask.  Every little thing sets me off. I'm taking Claritin D, astelin nasal spray, singular, dulera (previously Advair) prednisone, and using the nebulizer 4 times a day. I have been a stay at home mom for several years so it hasn't affected a paying job for me, but it sure has limited my job as mom. Luckily my oldest now has his drivers license so that helps.
It's a crappy illness with long term repercussions and, I believe, permanent damage to my lungs.
I don't have any answers but I sure understand.

[volcanogirl_rem]

I got pertussis in early July 2014.  I had an unbelievable sore throat one night.  I actually ran the next day with an old group of friends because I didn't want to miss it.  After that I felt like I was sort of sick for a few days, so I rested, but worked and had to travel so didn't try to exercise.  When I tried to run ~ 10 later, I simply couldn't breath. I figured, I am sick, I will swim because it is less strenuous.  Holy #$%&!  I am a good swimmer and had to turn around 1/2 way down the lane and swim with my head out of the water to get back to the wall.  A week after this, I finally got to my doctor.  Indeed my vaccination was out of date by 3 years because I had gotten a slew of shots to work in the Amazon and the pertussis was still good then.  It has now been almost a year and I still have wheezing and get winded just walking normally.  I am trying to run with my heart rate monitor to keep my speed in check so I can make it through my runs without walking.  Inhalers don't seem to help.  I am pretty depressed by the whole thing.  I used to run marathons under 3:45 and pop out of bed early in the morning because I loved the cleansing, head clearing of a good run.....so when the doctor said my breathing was on the 'low-side of normal', I just cried because I knew, even though I am at Stanford, this was going to be a struggle.  I can breath better than a lot of people AND I don't really have a cough, but I tested positive on a test that often doesn't even register the disease and I have been 'sick' ever since I got it relative to my normal condition.  Thank you for sharing on this site.  I actually have never posted anything anywhere before, but this has taken me over the edge.  Best of luck to all.

[margypops]

I have not been as bad as you describe but I have this dry hacking cough for months now also aches and pains ..no one diagnoses now and we cant get a doctor here you get to see a practitioner who prescribe anti biotics a lot ..I feel it really is a bad virus going round, or some kind of allergy caused by all the aerial spraying they are doing .

[exhibitb]

Interesting reading other peoples experiences with WC, I got this five months ago. Going through cycles of coughing fits (mainly at night, and the sleep deprivation has been torture) and sinus problems. I don't know how, but I have managed to hold down a job. My case is yet undiagnosed, although from the extensive research I did (through having so much time off work) it can only be this. I do believe I have now contracted complications from this disease, I have never been so desperately ill, bladder incontinence, ruptured intercostal muscles (which was INCREDIBLY painful) with all the coughing, gagging, almost vomiting and feeling like I was gong to suffocate. The worst of it lasted 10 weeks and was very severe at night, I never layed down for a total of 8 weeks and was suffering severe sleep deprivation, no more than an hours sleep at a time, and violent coughing fits lasting upto 90 minutes, and no less that 30. I cannot believe the copious ammounts of mucus the human body is capable of producing.

I eventually (after numerous visits to my doc and to a and e units and even one visit to hospital) demanded a pertussis test, well, by this time it was too late for a difinitive answer.

All my tests excluding sinus ct scan, have come back normal. CT scan reveals severe sinus disease which has never really bothered me, no headaches or sinus pain, only stuffed nose... but the thing that has really messed up my life if the continual feeling of a million minute feathers tickling inside my trachea which sets off the coughing, this has been a feature of my illness throughout the whole five months.

The coughing also makes the muscles in my neck very sore and stiff from all the straining.

The thing I find the hardest to believe, is the disinterest on the part of doctors to acknowledge and subsequently even TRY to help. I have found this whole illness and the failure of doctors and family and friends to help, incredibly depressing and I've been hanging on by a thread all this time.

[Buddhblue]

You are not alone...I caught whopping cough in April 2017 and am still suffering from the fits and coughing spasms It does make your asthma worse and it does come back on you when you get a cold or even a mild bug There is little doctors can do Yes there is this weird feeling in your throat that will bring it all back and you choke and barf and wretch and you cant stop! My daughter also caught it but she recovered within a few months (she does not have asthma and we caught it at the same time by the way and yes she did have her vaccinations) I had it when I was very young and I did not know you could catch it again My job requires me to talk so its very hard I do feel I will always have this and since I had asthma I do feel it has made it even harder to recover I do take 10,000 of D3 when I am ill and 5,000 when I am not (this keeps my lungs healthy and keeps me from getting infections) I am vegan and never eat dairy which can make it worse Diet does help I am sorry for everyone's misery Its really horrible Unless you have had this cough you can not imagine what it does to you I have pulled out just about every muscle in my body!

[bujou]

I had it in May of 2013. I was very very ill for six months. And I worry there may have been permanent damage. I now suffer from mild asthma. Although when I get respiratory infections I sometimes close up and have a very difficult and frightening inability inhaling the asthma medicine. And there was one time when I thought I was going to die right in front of my kids while they looked at me with horror unable to help me. That's not something any child should ever see. BTW I caught pertussis from an non immunized child at my Daughter's school. Anybody else out there catch it that way?? Right now I am Really sick with pneumonia and relieving memories that could actually be PTSD LOL.